I am not sure I ever really learned verb tenses in English. I just sort of *know* it because I have heard so much all my life, but when someone starts rattling off terms like “Past Continuous” and “Future Perfect” my eyes cross. See an overview of English tenses in chart below.

Englishpage.com has a verb tutorial for English. I add reviewing verb tenses in English to my list.

Something I had never heard of before is Verb Tense Timelines. This intrigues me. I’ll show an example of verb tense timelines below.

Verb Tense Timelines

Simple Past Tense Timelines

Simple Past

FORM

[VERB+ed]

USE 1 Completed Action in the Past

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

Example:

I saw a movie yesterday.

USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions

We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Example:

I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.

USE 3 Duration in Past

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

Example:

I lived in Maine for two years.

USE 4 Habits in the Past

The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as “used to.” To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Example:

Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?

USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression “used to.”